Crash Landing
by steelefan
Summary: A story filling in the gap between Blade Ranger's crash and the huge forest fire. What goes through the Chief of the Piston Peak's fire department head after the crash? what does Dusty think about it?


Blade Ranger was no stranger to getting hurt on the job. He knew that every time he took off to put out another fire that he was putting himself at risk, and he knew the possibility of crashing and dying was quite high. However, even after he'd accepted the fact that he could get hurt, it still didn't make it easy to cope with if and when it happened. Today just didn't seem to be Blade's lucky day; he saved his SEAT in training, Dusty Crophopper, from going over a waterfall and dying, had to let an entire section of forest be destroyed because of the fact, and after taking shelter for himself and the cropduster, got burned badly on his left side.

Even though he could technically blame his injury on Dusty, he knew that just wasn't fair to do. After getting furious with the small plane for not only disregarding orders, but also for simply giving up on being a firefighter, Dusty finally out of anger blurted out the reason why he was being so stubborn with the red and white helicopter.

"Then go back to racing! Go win yourself another trophy! _Champ!"_

"I _can't_! My gearbox is busted! All right!? That's why I pulled power! I'm never gonna…."

Blade slowed his rotors to a stop and looked at Dusty. It was obvious how upset he was as he panted and let his statement die off. Although his face didn't show it, this touched Blade and for the first time since meeting him, felt compassion and sorrow for the young plane. When Dusty first showed up to Piston Peak, Blade thought Dusty was some air racer who thought this would be a simple job that would get him a boost in his popularity among his fans, and this angered the helicopter. Now that he knew the truth, or at least part of the reason why Dusty acted the way he did, he wanted to help him.

"Life doesn't always go the way you expect it, but you came here to become a firefighter. If you give up today, think of all the lives you won't save tomorrow. So what're you going to do?"

After giving the plane the smallest hint of a smile, the two aircraft made their way into an abandoned mine shaft where they took refuge from the blaze. As the fire raged, it burned Blade along his left side while he tried to block Dusty from the intense heat, it was extremely painful, but this was his job, save lives.

After Blade was sure the fire was burnt out around them, he busted the debris that had fallen in front of the mine shaft away and rolled out into the open. The fresh air stung his wound, causing him to hold in a grunt of pain. As he rolled forward, Dusty looked at the helicopter's injury and cringed. Blade heard Dusty faintly say his name, but chose to cut right to the chase in what he wanted to say, he just needed to get themselves back home where he could rest.

"Airway Meadow should be clear, let's go."

The two aircraft made their way to the clearing, and Dusty took off with Blade watching to make sure he got off the ground alright. After a successful takeoff, Blade fired up his engine and started to lift himself up off the ground. He didn't even make it up past the tree line before his engine seized up and he crashed to the ground, hitting his right side into the burnt soil and ripping apart his rotors. The last thing Blade heard was Dusty yell out his name before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Pain. that's all Blade felt was pain. He had no idea how long he'd been out but he wished like hell he would pass back out. When he didn't sleep back into his deep sleep, he made a small noise and opened his eyes just a little to see where he was. To his surprise, he was not still on the ground in a charred forest, he was sitting inside his own hangar with his team's mechanic Maru in front of him.

"Easy there Chief, you took a hard hit out there, don't move." Maru said quietly.

Blade took a few breaths before speaking in a low, almost inaudible whisper. "How bad?"

Maru gave Blade a little smile before patting Blade's nose lightly with his fork. "It's bad but you'll be alright. I removed your rotors, stripped your paint on the burned side down to the aluminum and replaced the damaged panels, and your engine is pretty stripped down right now so don't try to start it. I'm gonna fix you up don't worry, I just don't wanna do everything in one shot, you need time to heal a little before I feel confident enough to finish."

"How long will I be out?" Blade choked out.

"I'm not sure yet, right now, just please rest."

Blade nodded slightly and lowered down on his landing gear, then looked Maru in the eye. "Dusty?"

"He's fine Blade, just a bit shaken up by this."

Content with knowing Dusty was alright, Blade let out a breath and shut his eyes. Maru smiled and left Blade to sleep. When he rolled outside, Dusty was sitting right by the door.

"How is he?"

Maru sighed. "He's resting now, I've done everything I can."

"Do you think he's gonna be..?"

"Look Dusty, don't blame yourself." Maru spoke as he flipped on his headlights.

"He should have left me out there."

Maru chuckled. "Nah, that's not Blade's style… Especially since… what happened to Nick."

"Nick? You mean Nick Loop'n Lopez from the TV show?" Dusty said as he recalled watching an episode of CHoPs, learning that Balde used to be a TV star on a police show.

Maru then proceeded to tell Dusty all about what happened to Nick. he told Dusty how Nick had a freak accident on the set, and that Blade was the first on the scene but he didn't know what to do. Maru explained that Blade didn't know how to handle losing his best friend, so he became a firefighter himself.

Dusty felt an extreme guilt well up inside of him. He felt bad pushing his problems onto Blade like it was his job to fix him. Dusty just sat there looking at the picture of Nick Lopez on the wall, realizing how fortunate he was that his life changing event didn't cost anyone their life.

"I never would've thought. Jeez, I feel… horrible for this." Dusty said in a hushed tone.

"What happened that day isn't your fault." Maru said as he pulled up next to him.

"I gave him such a hard time, acted like my own problems were more important than anything. If I had known… I wouldn't have…." Dusty lowered his front end with a sigh, not finishing his statement for fear of crying.

"Dusty, you had no idea, you can't get mad at yourself for not knowing." Maru said.

Dusty looked away from the picture and started to head back to his own hangar. Maru sighed and shut the lights off and closed the garage door, leaving Dusty alone outside. As he made his way to his hangar, he looked up towards Blade's hangar; the light was on. Subconsciously Dusty rolled up to the Chief's hangar and before he could stop himself, he popped the door open just a crack.

Hearing the door open, Blade, who had woken up from the pain in his side, looked over towards the door expecting to see Maru. When he realized who it was opening the door, he spoke up.

"You can come in Dusty." Blade said quietly."

Dusty carefully rolled inside and shut the door behind him, then rolled closer to the chief. He had to keep himself from wincing, Blade looked horrible. His left side was stripped down to the bare metal, he rotors were missing, he had dents all along his right side from where he hit the ground, and his eyes looked full of pain.

Dusty sighed and spoke in a low tone. "I'm sorry Blade, this is my fault."

Blade shifted uncomfortably on his landing gear. "It's not your fault Dusty, I understand why you did what you did."

"Maru told me about Nick. If I had known, I wouldn't have been such a pain to you. I thought I could just push through without anyone finding out."

Blade sighed at the mention of Nick, he hadn't had to bring that topic up in years, but he knew that he had to now, no matter how painful it was. "You weren't a pain Dusty, I was the one being a pain. I was being a pain to everyone at this base, including you. This job is hard, and whether or not you had a disability, I should've understood how scary all this is to new recruits… When I trained, after Nick's accident, I was so dedicated to doing something good, and so unafraid of dying, that I felt everyone should just suck it up and do it, and expected everyone else to have the exact same dedication… I'm sorry Dusty, I shouldn't have yelled so much, I should've talked to you instead of belittling you."

Dusty lightly pressed his nose cone to Blade's nose and started to let himself cry softly. He felt even worse now that Blade felt that he was the one at fault. After a few choked breaths, Dusty realized Blade was crying too, and nuzzled the helicopter more in response.

"I'm sorry about your gearbox Dusty, I'm gonna do what I can to fix it for you… I'll help look for the parts… I'll have Maru install it… Just please don't leave… don't give up on this…. You're gonna make a great firefighter…" Blade choked out through tears.

"I won't give up Blade… I want you to be my teacher, I don't wanna learn from anyone else." Dusty said sniffling.

Blade sighed and chuckled slightly. "I haven't cried in front of someone in so long… congrats Champ… you broke me down."

Dusty smiled a bit in response and let out his own little chuckle. "I don't know if it'll help, but I think you need a friend Blade, you've probably been pushing everyone away for so long because of what happened to Nick… I'm not trying to replace him, but I think it would help if you let someone get close to you again."

Blade took a deep breath and looked Dusty in the eyes. "My way of pushing as far down as possible hasn't seemed to work out too well… so I think your way is worth a shot."

Dusty smiled and sniffled in the last of the tears, Blade did the same and the two smiled at one another.

"How long are you gonna be out?" Dusty asked referring to the helicopter's injuries.

"I'm not sure… you might wanna head back home for a while I recover." Blade said sadly.

"Blade, friends don't abandon friends, I want to stay here with you and the team! You guys are so much fun to be with, and besides, you could always teach me the really boring stuff while you're down." Dusty said with a smile.

Blade smiled back at Dusty. It was first time Blade had genuinely smiled in years and for the first time since Nick died, he felt happy. Blade looked into Dusty's eyes and laughed, it was obvious he was wrong about Dusty. He was wrong about why he wanted to become a firefighter, and he was wrong that this was just a stubborn kid who thought he knew better than anyone, and he couldn't have been more happy about being wrong. Now that he knew Dusty for who he really was, a plane with a caring heart and genuine source of compassion, he reminded him a lot of Nick, and that's when he knew that if anyone was fit to be his best friend, it was Dusty.

"I'd be honored to teach you." Blade said with a smile.

Just then a siren went off and Dynamite came rushing into Blade's hangar. "Dusty! I couldn't find you anywhere, the fire's spread and the evacuated campers are trapped, the road's been blocked, we need all hands on deck let's go!"

Dynamite then drove out of the hangar leaving the door wide open. Dusty sat there looking out into the distance when Blade carefully moved his injured body next to Dusty's.

"I… I'm not sure about this…" Dusty said nervously.

Blade looked at Dusty and smiled. "You can do it Dusty, I have faith in you."

Dusty smiled and looked at Blade, then he started rolling out towards the others who were waiting

Blade watched Dusty make his way over to the others and then quietly spoke to himself. "Goodluck… . Partner."

And from that point forward, Blade would refer to Dusty not as his trainee, but his Best Friend, and somehow he knew Nick was probably looking down on him laughing, relieved that Blade finally put an end to his suffering.

" _Good move partner."_


End file.
